


Dream mates

by AnnieJays



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Dreams, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 04:47:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8314459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieJays/pseuds/AnnieJays
Summary: Jongin and kyungsoo meet through the melody of their dreams. 
 
                                                       "Play for me."





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [junmyeonah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/junmyeonah/gifts).



> Soulmate!au Kaisoo with violinist!kyungsoo because I needed to.

There’s something strange, Jongin decides, about the way the plants are moving, as if they were under water. Slow and curvy, unrushed, and with a certain, mesmerizing rhythm to it that makes the little boy copy them in awe. The ground is peculiarly spongy and white, just like cotton, and it makes him wobble while he leaps around, excited, giggling every time he reaches especially high only to bounce again to reach even higher, further, enjoying the never ending fun. 

When he’s feeling exhausted, legs about to give out, then and only then does he stop, letting himself fall back onto the cotton, bouncing twice before resting comfortably on the ground that now suspiciously feels like a bed- his bed. He blinks a few times because everything turns blurry for bit, and he feels dizzy, sleepy, heavy, discomfort taking over him untill everything is bright again, and he glances up, at the blue sky. 

There are big red apples floating around, like funny hot air balloons and Jongin laughs out loud, when one of them deflates, flailing around violently in the air and bumping into the other balloons, untill it finally falls nearby, becoming a shooting star. Jongin immediately gets up, exclaiming in wonder and following the trail of colourful smoke in the sky towards the place where the metamorphosed apple has landed. Suddenly his steps resound, creating a soft echo that haunts him ghostly. The ground gets firmer and firmer, and a few trees appear out of the faint mist that clouds his vision. Jongin warily, but bravely, keeps walking forward, fidgeting and gulping when he finds himself surrounded by large, leafy trees. He realizes he’s lost once he passes through the same crooked tree twice, and he stomps his feet, crossing his arms and sitting on the ground, lips forming a perfect cute little pout. He won’t cry, crying is useless, he tells himself while he swings back and forth, trying to calm his racing heart. 

He doesn’t know if it’s his imagination or what, but when he looks up, the mist seems to be dissipating gradually, as if giving space to something else. The little boy blinks a few times before the realization of what’s invading the air, taking over the forest, sinks in

It’s music. A beautiful, simple melody that gets stronger and stronger the more visibility he gets. Enthralled by the unknown, alluring music, he stands up, allowing himself to be called by the sound, to be guided to the source of it. The light gets brighter, more vivid the more consistent the music gets, and suddenly Jongin feels desperate in the need to know where it comes from, to find out who is making such beauty; so he runs. And runs and runs through the trees, the itching to know growing stronger and consuming him all untill he abruptly stops, panting, with his eyes wide open and fixed on a tree. An unusual large tree in which a boy, a pale boy with dark black hair and little frame is focusedly and passionately playing an old, unpolished violin, which is now making the most beautiful melody Jongin has ever heard. He subconsciously walks closer, untill he’s in front of the boy and they’re so, so close that the music makes his entire body vibrate and he shivers, eyes never glancing away once. 

The young violinist is so concentrated that he exudes passion, and the intensity of it all brings a few tears to Jongin’s eyes, who would be desperate for the pale boy to open his and look at him if it wasn’t for the fact that no thoughts are going through his head but the lovely music.  
Eventually the tempo slows down, and it comes to a halt with a long note that reverberates through Jongin’s entire body, who can only stare in awe at the violinist. Said person sighs and puts his violin down, opening his eyes in a sleepy way that makes Jongin feel funny. The dark haired boy blinks at him in surprise and his eyes turn wary, clutching the violin and bow tightly against his chest. Jongin can only lose himself in the fierceness of the other’s look. 

“Who are you?” he demands with an accusing tone that makes Jongin snap out of his daze and he stands there, awkwardly, looking for words that he definitely doesn’t have right now. 

“Play for me.” He blurts in a pleading, uncertain tone, and he immediately feels his cheeks heat up in shame at his dumbness. But the other doesn’t seem to mind, and keeps glaring up at him, softer now. 

“You want to steal my violin, like the other bad guy!” he accuses with a pout, and Jongin desperately shakes his head, because he would never, ever take that violin away from the boy. 

“No!” He denies furiously and sits down, so that they’re both at the same level. “No. No, I don’t like bad guys, I’m good!” he protests and inches closer, which makes the other frown. 

“So… you don’t want my violin?” he asks, still tense, but now peering. Jongin shakes his head solemnly in response, and the violinist’s eyes soften, body visibly relaxing, and Jongin sighs in relief. “What’s your name?” 

“I’m Jongin.” 

“What are you doing in my dream then?” 

“What?” Jongin frowns in confusion at the question and the other tilts his head, looking at him funny. 

“Why are you in my dream?” the pale boy repeats, genuinely curious.

“Your dream?” Jongin echoes and shakes his head. “I don’t understand.” He states and frowns again when the violinist laughs, hugging the precious instrument. 

“We’re in my dream, duh! How can you not know?” he asks and Jongin doesn’t like the way the tone makes it seem like it’s obvious and he is dumb for not knowing, so he huffs offended. 

“I know this is a dream!” he lies in protest to avoid seeming like an idiot. “But this has to be my dream, not yours. What are you doing in my dream?” he inquires while crossing his arms defensively. But the other boy just laughs at him, truly amused and it makes Jongin self conscious for reasons he doesn’t understand, ignoring the fact that his laugh is severely contagious. “What’s so funny?” he demands to know, cheeks red with anger at the other’s attitude, and trying hard not to smile due to his mixed feelings for the boy.

Once the other calms down he rubs his eyes and looks at him with sweetly and with a smile Jongin thinks it’s really pretty. 

“If this is not your dream, and it’s not my dream... I think…” He starts slowly and beckons Jongin to get closer, who can’t help but comply, mesmerized by the glint in the other’s eyes, like he’s about to tell him the most wonderful secret on earth. “I think...we are sharing dreams. And if we are sharing dreams, that must be because we are soulmates!” He exclaims with the proudest beam, and Jongin feels lightheaded for a few seconds, trying to process the information. He relatively quickly decides that what the violinist is saying is not possible. It’s actually downright ridiculous. Soulmates don’t exist. It’s only an invention people made to feel good, his father has always said that. So when he shakes his head and tells the other that what he’s saying can’t be true and that he doesn’t believe in soulmates, he feels a pang of guilt at the way the pale boy seems to deflate and drown in disappointment. There are a few moments of silence after that, in which Jongin feels really bad and uncomfortable while the violinist stubbornly frowns at the ground. Jongin is about to get up and leave while he is startled by the sudden, lively jerk in the other’s body. 

“Then we can be dream mates!” the violinist blurts with a satisfied smile and Jongin blinks at him. “If you don’t believe in soulmates, we can be dream mates.” he explains, excited. “ That way we can still share dreams but we don’t have to be soulmates. What do you think?” 

Jongin finds himself liking the idea. He definitely wants to see this boy again, and especially hear him play. He has always liked making new friends, too. But above all, there’s something just so alluring in the way the boy moves, talks, smiles, the way he looks at him, with such hopeful eyes that Jongin can’t deny him, and before he realizes, he is agreeing with a firm nod and a shy smile.

“Dream mates.” He declares.

The pale boy claps as a celebration and pats the space besides him for Jongin to sit there. Jongin obeys, obviously. 

“I’m Kyungsoo, by the way.” the boy informs while offering Jongin the bow after a long time of just staring at it, and he grabs him with some sort of stupefaction on his face that makes Kyungsoo chuckle. “So… what do you like more? Jumping on the clouds or jumping on the grape jelly?” 

“I like when the apples deflate.” 

“Have you seen the elephants on the trees?”

Jongin gapes at him dumbfounded. 

“Come with me, I’ll show you. But we have to be careful, there are dwarves and bad guys that want to take my violin away from me.” 

Jongin nods profusely and follows Kyungsoo through the now moving trees, promising himself that he’ll never let that happen.

Jongin doesn’t know just how much he’ll hold onto that promise. 

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

When Jongin is five years old, his teacher tells him and his classmates that they will meet their soulmates in their dreams one day. The kids are ecstatic, telling each other what their future soulmates will be like and one of them claiming that they already know theirs.  
But sweet, little Jongin frowns and shakes his head furiously, crossing his arms. Soulmates aren’t an exact science. Jongin doesn’t really know what “exact science” means, but his dad always repeats it, and of course he is right. His dad is always right. So he raises his hand and blurts:  
“Soulmates don’t exist. My daddy says you’re just delusional.”  
Jongdae points at him and guffaws. To say the teacher is shocked is an understatement.

 

When he turns seven years old, Jongin asks his mom about soulmates. She smiles at him and tells him that her current husband, is her soulmate, and that she didn’t meet him until Jongin was born.  
Jongin gets mad at her and says she’s lying. Because even if soulmates existed, his dad should be her mom’s soulmate and not his stepfather. Stepfathers shouldn’t exist. 

When Jongin reaches the age of nine, Sehun tackles him and Jongdae into the ground with the biggest grin they had ever seen on the boy.  
“I met my soulmate! His name is Minseok and he’s twelve! Can you believe it?”  
And no. Jongin can’t believe that because soulmates are for fools and Sehun has always been a fool. But Jongdae claps enthusiastically so he stays quiet, just listening to his friend’s dream.  
Later on, his friends get into a small discussion regarding whose soulmate is going to be better, even if Jongdae doesn’t know his yet. Jongin thinks they’re stupid. 

When Jongin is twelve, his mother drags him to the doctor. Jongin doesn’t dream. He fails to see how that is a problem since it has never bothered him before.  
“Your soulmat-”  
“Ugh mom, not again.”

By the time Jongin is fifteen and he stops believing everything his father says, the idea of a soulmate doesn’t seem so foolish anymore, especially when Sehun introduces the real Minseok to them, after years and years of telling him how amazing his soulmate was in his dreams.  
Minseok is older, just like Sehun has said. He moved to the city to start college and he and Sehun have seen each other by chance in a park. Minseok is amazing and makes time for his soulmate even when he has exams. They’re cute, Jongin thinks with the slightest bit of envy. 

Once Jongin is seventeen, he convinces himself that he doesn’t need a significant other. Especially not one the so called fate decided for him. If he’s going to have a partner, it’s going to be by his and only his choice. But he doesn’t care about that. He is fine on his own. He doesn’t want to be like Jongdae and Junmyeon anyways. Who wants to be stuck all day with person you only met through dreams as if your life depended on it? Jongin doesn’t. Or at least, that’s what he says. 

But Jongin doesn’t know yet. 

Jongin doesn’t know that he dreams. He doesn’t remember. But the dreams are still there, every night, when he closes his eyes, he is there. Kyungsoo is there. 

There are many things Jongin doesn’t know- remember. Doesn’t remember. Because he does know them. Jongin doesn’t remember the first time he and Kyungsoo met, so he never understood why he had the same melody stuck in his head for years. He has no idea it’s because certain pale violinist with messy black hair and big attentive eyes plays it for him, every night, since Jongin was eight. 

Jongin can’t even imagine that each night, his dreams will mix with Kyungsoo’s to create the most wonderful of the worlds, the greatest characters, the most passionate stories and the strangest situations he could ever think about.

Like that time Kyungsoo watched Sinbad and they found themselves in the middle of the Ocean, doing the most phenomenal journey, surrounded by mythical monsters and beautiful mermaids who would sing to tempt them into jumping out of the ship and drown, while they travelled to meet the goddess Eris - who ended up being Jongin’s sister- to get Kyungsoo’s violin back so he could play for Jongin. Or when Kyungsoo watched all the Indiana Jones films in one weekend and they discovered a lost civilization while dealing with a gang of looters leaded by Jongin’s stepfather, who trapped them in quicksand and stole the sacred violin- Kyungsoo has disliked him as much as Jongin does ever since. 

There was that one time in which Kyungsoo had a disney marathon. Let’s say being a living toy in wonderland, with Peter Pan as an ally and Stitch as a pet while trying to save 101 dalmatians from Cruella de Vil- who this time was Jongin’s annoying aunt- isn’t as fun as it seems. Especially if Captain Hook- Jongin’s stepfather, and the Queen of Hearts- that one was just Helena Bonham Carter- were after their heads to get the violin. And don’t even get Jongin’s subconscious started about that time in which Kyungsoo watched the avengers after hours of studying ancient greek history. 

If Jongin could remember, he would probably say that his favourite dream was when Kyungsoo watched Howl’s moving castle for the first time. Either that one or when he read Jules Verne’s Around The World in Eighty Days and they travelled in an apple shaped hot air balloon above Europe. If he had to pick the worst ones, though, he would probably choose those after Kyungsoo would watch a horror film. His nightmares were truly dreadful, and while Kyungsoo would have fun, taking Jongin by his hand and running away while screaming in thrill from every damn creature or supernatural being, Jongin would simply get paralyzed and shake in fear.

If Jongin could remember, he would say that their abstract dreams are atrocious: Shapeless, senseless feelings and noises, familiar and unknown faces and a big melange of fragments of situations that seemed all too intimate yet aloof to him. And above all, a ludicrous pattern of notes that nothing have to do with the beautiful melodies Kyungsoo can generally create. 

If Jongin could remember, he would especially appreciate the fact that Kyungsoo never uses the word “Soulmates” to define their relationship. Jongin has always prefered the term “Dream mates” because that means their relationship is their choice, and not something forced upon them, and that makes what they have way more meaningful to him. 

In general, whereas Kyungsoo’s creativity is the sharpest, the brightest, which matches his cheeky, adventurous personality, Jongin’s emotions are the most substantial, the toughest, hence why he’s the more cautious one, never daring to try to change the dreams, just going along with them in his own wary yet brave way. Kyungsoo is always aware that everything is just his invention even if he gets too passionate sometimes, he’ll never forget to remind Jongin that “No, you won’t get hurt, you’re just sleeping, keep running!”

Jongin has not even the slightest idea of how much his dreams affect his daily life. Like when Kyungsoo is sad or angry or troubled, the stormy, dark dreams full of emptiness and discomfort will make him frown all day long, even if he doesn’t know why he feels so heavy, and mournful. Or those times in which Kyungsoo pulls an all nighter and Jongin finds himself wandering in his own dull dreams, disoriented and hyper aware of his solitude and existence as a human being, and he can’t help but wake up, submerged in angst. Or those rare occasions in which they find each other in short, calm naps in which everything is mild and mellow, and Jongin wakes up renewed, not really sure of why. The funniest thing might probably be how weird it is for Jongin to know absolutely everything about Harry Potter without having watched a single film nor read a single book, but he wouldn’t ask himself such questions if he only remembered how many dreams happened in Hogwarts, and how bizarrely accurate everything was, despite of the fact that Kyungsoo used his bow as a wand. 

There are times in which during the day, a painfully nostalgic feeling will sink in the back of his head over things like walking by the music room and hearing the faint sound of a violin, or the way someone smiles or calls his name. But the feeling fades way too quickly and Jongin always ends up frustrated and reluctant to let go of the idea that there’s something very important that he can’t remember and he yearns to catch it, yet, the nostalgic numbness haunts him for the rest of the day untill the night comes and the unexplainable excitement he has before going to sleep washes the gloomy feeling away. 

If Jongin could remember his unique dreams, he would shamelessly accept the fact that he’s madly in love with the violinist, despite his initial reluctance to be connected to the boy.  
But Jongin can’t help it. They grew up together in their own dreamy way. Kyungsoo makes up the most astonishing worlds and brilliant universes, he exudes positivity and passion and the two of them have gone through the most fascinating adventures full of wonders and dangers. But he loves the way he’s always safe, that at the end of the dream it’s just Kyungsoo and him pushing through the difficulties together and achieving their goal. He admires the way Kyungsoo is ambitious and is always ready to deal with more, his mind not stopping for even a second. Jongin also likes the way Kyungsoo encourages him to be the hero, shows him that he can do it. Like when Jongin was his bodyguard, saving him and the violin from the kidnappers, or the time he let Kyungsoo hide while he distracted the group of cannibals that were after them. His dream mate is always there though, smiling in amusement even when he’s tied up and threatened with a gun, even when they fall into traps in the forest, and even when Jongin is sad and the sky gets grey. When they can’t jump in the clouds anymore, and the trees lose all its leaves. Kyungsoo is still there, cuddling Jongin, tickling him, playing for him, and overall just dreaming with him. Kyungsoo never abandons him, even if his alarm goes off first, interrupting the dream and making everything go blurry, he’d still be back with the lame excuse of “five more minutes”, to save the spirit of the forest and play his violin for Jongin. 

Somehow, Jongin still goes on with his life, unaware of the special person he is bound to, and the thousands lives they have lived together. 

When Jongin is twenty one, he still doesn’t dream. So when he meets a pale boy with big playful eyes and an ever lasting smile, the boy who’s sitting against an unusual large tree near the river, playing the most beautiful and gloomy melody Jongin has ever heard on an old, unpolished violin, he doesn’t know why his chest constricts; why his legs shake and his throat gets dry. He doesn’t understand why he has the sudden need to laugh and cry and jump in happiness. And he especially doesn’t understand why when the boy puts the violin down and looks at him with his large, surprised eyes, his first broken words are:

“Play for me.”

The pale boy chuckles with some kind of disbelieving relief and stares at him, with such fondness that makes Jongin a little dizzy. 

“I thought you’d never ask, sweetheart.” 

The familiar teasing voice takes him by surprise and knocks the air out of him, and Jongin goes through a mental breakdown when the melody starts to sound, and the most strange deja-vu flashes through his mind. 

The music is way better in real life and Jongin does cry this time, while the not so stranger comforts him in the most effective way he could ever have. They fit so perfectly well together, that it makes Jongin want to laugh amidst his odd tears. It feels as if they had known each other since forever. As if they had lived a thousand lives together. 

 

 

 

 

“So, we really do know each other from dreams, then.” 

“Yep.” 

“I wish I could remember them.” Jongin laments and Kyungsoo chuckles at the other’s pout. 

“ Well I could always tell you about them.” He offers and Jongin smiles at him. 

“That’d be great.” he exhales, grateful. The violinist’s eyes suddenly turn mischievous and he bites his lip. 

“Want me to tell you about your first wet dream?” 

“Kyungsoo!”

**Author's Note:**

> For the one and only Gab whom I love dearly! <3


End file.
